The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Optician boss and a tax cheat own empty retail units
The chief executive of Optical Express who took HMRC to court over an unpaid VAT bill is the owner of a long-term vacant retail unit in Dundee while another belongs to a £1 million tax cheat.
David Moulsdale, founder of the multinational healthcare company, owns 52-54 Commercial Street, which has lain empty in the city centre for more than threeand-a-half years.
An investigation by The Courier into who owns the long-term vacant retail units in Dundee found that Cumbernauld-based businessman Moulsdale is the proprietor of the shop that was most recently Barrhead Travel.
The Courier has been tracking empty retail units for almost a year.
Eighteen property deeds purchased by The Courier show he owns the store while trading under his company Moulsdale Properties.
The unit, which has been empty since August 2020, was registered with a worth of £3,525,000 and is attached to the current Optical Express outlet in the city.
In 2023, Mr Moulsdale took HMRC to the Supreme Court to appeal a £191,562 VAT bill for an office block he sold in 2014 trading as Moulsdale Properties.
The businessman had already lost every stage of the appeal through each level of the court system and the Supreme Court once again decided in the taxman’s favour.
By January 2023, the bill had additional interest of £11,491.
Optical Express was founded in Glasgow by the millionaire tycoon in 1991 before expanding to hundreds of locations across the UK, Ireland, Europe and the USA.
It is believed Mr Moulsdale was forced to inject £30m into the company to save it from collapse in 2013 after lenders refused to extend new loan facilities.
When contacted by The Courier for comment, Mr Moulsdale and Optical Express failed to respond.
The Optical Express boss is not the only owner of a long-term vacant retail unit in the city who has seen his tax battles end up in court.
The property deeds acquired by The Courier show that 6 Nethergate is owned by Broughty Ferry businessman Mohammed Arshid.
The property has been empty since October 2020 when previous occupants Crust vacated the premises.
The former newsagent owner was investigated for five years by HMRC before finally ending up in court in 2016.
Mr Arshid was the director of Nethergate Newsagents, which went into compulsory liquidation in July 2014 with debts of £1,044,973.
During the probe by HMRC, it was discovered the shop had been under-declaring and concealing its liabilities for 17 years.
Mr Arshid submitted false P35 end-of-year returns to HMRC for tax and National Insurance contributions between 1996-97 and 2012-13 resulting in lost tax revenue and penalty charges of £525,454.
He also concealed VAT liabilities between amounting to £170,182 and submitted incorrect tax returns to the tune of £221,282.
Mr Arshid admitted using the money for home improvements, to pay for private education and to top up employees’ wages.
He was banned from becoming the director of a company for 11 years.
Mr Arshid, who was also jailed for 17 months for perjury in 2015, could not be located for comment.
“Mr Arshid submitted false P35 end-of-year returns to HMRC for tax and National Insurance